67: Sunday 15th November 2009

So Sunday it is not raining, still feeling a bit rough with the cold, I persevered. My objective was to get the electric motor mounted to the gearbox. First I had to finish off putting the other mounts on the gearbox and other parts and fit the split CV joint boot. I fitted the top and bottom gearbox mounts without incident. This left the intermediate shaft floating in mid air, ideal for fitting the boot. I had never tried this before, but it was easy. The boot is split down the side and has a groove to put glue in. They are universal, so I had to cut off the small end to get the right shaft size, then cut the big end to get the right size for the CV joint cup. Starting at the small end I glued up to the first concertina, lined up the edges and held them together for 45 seconds. Then glued along to the second concertina, held it for 20 seconds, then kept repeating this process until I had the whole side glued. I Then run the glue back along the length of the join to ensure there were no gaps. Always wear rubber gloves as the super glue will stick to skin. While that was left to fully set I fitted the gearshift support rod, the gear selector rod and the cross member again without incident. I fitted the new split boot and clipped it to the shaft and CV joint. I remembered I still had to fit the left outer CV joint boot, but when I looked at it I could see the splines at the end of the drive shaft. With all the pulling and shoving that I had to do to get the other joints together I had pulled the shaft out of the joint...damn. So I took off the left wheel and removed the bolt from the lower suspension joint to give movement to push the CV joint onto the shaft. Unfortunately I could not get the ball joint out of the lower hub. Not too happy after smacking my knuckles several times I packed up for the night. Failed to meet my objective of mounting the electric motor. Not one of my best weekends.

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About Me

I am an automotive Engineer with a background of electrical and electronic engineering.
My interest in converting cars to electric is to preserve modern classics by adding electric drive thus reducing maintenance and improving driving. I like being green, but prefer the thrill of the torque when driving electric cars. Most electric cars are either cheap and ugly or good looking but too expensive. I hope to fill some of the middle ground before the major manufacturers get their fingers in.